Why Obamacare Bills May Double Next Year

Earlier this month, Julie Morringello, an artist in rural Maine, received a notice that her health care premiums could nearly double next year.

She now pays $460 a month for her Obamacare plan, but that amount is contingent on government subsidies that the Republican-controlled Congress may not extend.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Ms. Morringello, 58, said. Her insurance also covers her 14-year-old daughter, and forgoing a plan altogether isn’t an option because Ms. Morringello has a history of cancer and needs continuing care.

Similar sticker shock may await millions of Americans who must start to sign up for coverage in November. The vast majority of people enrolled in plans under the Affordable Care Act receive additional federal tax credits that were first expanded by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Congress in 2021.

Those subsidies, set to expire at the end of the year, are now the subject of a standoff between Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate have demanded an extension in exchange for their support of a government spending bill that must pass by the end of this month to prevent a government shutdown.

Republican leaders have cited the high cost of the subsidies, estimated at about $350 billion over 10 years, and potential fraud in enrollments for the program. And they have balked at attaching an extension onto this month’s short-term spending bill.